Customer Reviews

The Forlorn

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a rare find. I didn't like the cover much, so I nearly didn't buy it. I'm really glad I did. It is writing of type I thought had died out of science-fiction. Exuberant, fun and fast. A little clumsy at times - but the pace carries you through it. Reminiscent of Andre Norton's early books, with just that bit more character-development, and complexity. The story follows three distinct threads - The street-thief boy with soul of a prince, the princess with the soul of a courtesan, the utterly terrible alien-raised shadow of a man with a tabula rasa soul. Appealing characters in very different ways. These three move at breakneck speed on a collision course in a sort of `medieval' world. It's a quest story across painted deserts, mountains and oceans. There is very little description, but it is descriptively the best I've read for a long time. Most authors seem to describe in rather tedious detail if they describe at all. This guy comes up with one sentence stuff. `In the moonlight the tangled weave of sharp edged valleys lay like some gargantuan mauled tapestry below them.' That's all, but I've been into the desert. I worked there for three months, it's a brilliant description. For an American his use of English is very good indeed. Easy to read and with bits of dry humour. The other things I found fascinating was an alien culture where only one sex was intelligent. Oh yes, and food, this guy should definitely on a cooking channel. The story does indeed have a fantasy-like quality to it for sf, but I guess at the level of technology that was inevitable. My favourite character is the hairy gene-splice Beywulf with ape and bear genes in a human - the guy gets described as a cross between mine host of the friendly pub and an axe murderer. That's a great description. I read the book at sitting, because it is sort of a mystery story too and I wanted to know just what happened. No, I didn't work it out, but the clues were there. Also it is fast paced and easy to read. It was only the next day at work that I found myself thinking about the book. Its a good book when you find yourself doing that. I sat there with my mouth open. The author is a sneaky... It's a damned clever spoof of fantasy. It's got all the stock characters doing the opposite to normal fantasy. It's clever but non-intrusive. My only real criticism is that the end is too sudden. I would have liked an epilogue at least to find out what happened. I hope that's because there is a sequel in the pipeline.

"The Forlorn" is at once familiar and intriguingly strange, blending high fantasy archetypes with a fast-paced science fiction plot. Against a backdrop of programmed medieval culture, alien invasion and centuries-old betrayal, a street-rat, a spoiled princess and a born-and-bred warrior must live, learn, grow up and try to save the world from the devilish insectoid Morkth. Guiding our heroes is someone very like an ageless wizard, subtle and quick to anger. The objects of their quest are the gem-like shards of a transporter, a technology so advanced, it is almost indistinguishable from magic.

"The Forlorn' is classic science fiction. It is high fantasy. It is a coming-of-age story reminiscent of S.E. Hinton's works. Read it. It's good.

The plot of 'The Forlorn' combines an epic old world adventure with a high-tech sci-fi sub-plot, the implications of which only emerge towards the end of the book. The story centres around the life of the main character, a young boy, misfit to the medieval anarchic society from which he escapes. As the boy matures into a young man the plot follows his progress: surviving his escape into the desert, foruitously meeting a mentor, a tough desert rat prospector who has found a fortune in gems but is unwilling to re-join society other than for the momentary pleasures that frontier towns offer. The stability of the young hero's life is abandoned with his first confrontation with the sci-fi element in the book which catapults him into an adventure of epic proportions with strange hostile creatures, treachery, narrow escapes, and even gory battles. Of course there is also a romantic interest woven into the story. The story ends with an unusual twist. It's a good read, I found myself absorbed and not wanting to put the book down, I'm new to sci-fi but thoroughly enjoyed the mix of classic old style adventure story and high-tech futuristic characters. Got to recommend the book if you're looking for some absorbing escapism.

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to REALLY like this book. The plot was right the premise was grand and even the characters seemed interesting. What really annoyed me about this book was the fact that they included a plot mechanism that I don't feel was necessary and to me was very distracting from the story.

Basically this is a lost colony story. It appears humanity lost or was losing some sort of interstellar conflict and fled to the stars. The world we see through the eyes of the primary character is the fruit of one these colony ships. Whether this is the only colony or one of many we really are never told. The colonist are several generations into life on the planet and live at a low-tech level without any real recollection of what their heritage is.

Somehow it appears members of the original enemy are on the planet making mischief but are limited in some way. The heroes and villains all have some sort of sexual theme around them. This is the plot device I am talking about that I don't think was necessary and I don't think it worked. Somehow every major event in the book is precipitated or concluded with either sexual fantasy or sexual frustration. I understand the author used this device as the underpinning plot agitator but I do believe the story would have been told better using some other device.

On the flip side the author does an excellent job of making us wonder whom the real good guys and bad guys are. I enjoy these kind of plot twists. The changes were welcome but the characters themselves often seemed to change direction without motivation or justification.

Overall and adequate novel that was enjoyable once but will probably not rate a second reading. I would recommend this as a quick read if nothing else is around but would suggest that younger readers be kept away.

A streetwise thief, a princess, a deadly warrior and a revered hero. Armed with some magical gems and seeking an artifact of power to defeat a deadly race bent on the annihilation of all mankind amidst an even older betrayal. Sounds like your everyday, garden variety herioc fantasy adventure right?

Wrong! This is a sci-fi novel with a twist.

Our young thief is a boy who hasn't got a clue what makes people tick. That is until he leaves the city and meets a a garrulous old prospector who takes him in and teaches him to be a man out in the desert wastes. His education is further complicated when he discovers the 'joys?' of the opposite sex. How not to appear an idiot in front of girls should be on every school's curriculum.

The princess is a spoiled, selfish young girl (but then aren't all princesses?). She learns to understand the common people when a palace coup forces her to flee and learn to live as a commoner with the couple who take her in.

Our deadly warrior is hollow man, born and bred to fight. Bred as a warrior of the aliens, he earns his freedom due to the machinations of the broodsows themselves. Adrift in the world of free humans, he learns what it is to be truly human. That all humans, no matter how debased, have a soul.

And the upstanding hero? A man determined to right the betrayal perpetrated by his captain centuries ago. He learns how the common stock can rise above their station to defend and protect all of humanity. And that all betrayal will be avenged, sometimes at the hands of someone unexpected for the role.

Dave Freer takes an ordinary coming of age story, adds a sci-fi background to it and then proceeds to overturn almost every fantasy cliche in existence during the course of an often hilarious, sometimes poignent and always relevant goal, how to grow up. Leavened with interesting campfire recipes (his years as a chef are shining through), deep characters, sneaky plot twists and a fast pace, this a science fiction-cum-fantasy novel with its roots undeniably in the human condition endemic to us all.

If you want a good book, filled with real characters and their problems then get The Forlorn. The humour conceals great truths about the human condition that'll have you thinking about what it means to be a human being long after you finished reading it. Then you'll come back and read it again...and again...and again...

This book falls in that genre that mixes SF with fantasy. It's a good enough book for those rainy days. Not one you'll be thinking about later, though.
Fleeing an interstellar war that would possibly mean the destruction of Earth, a human colony is launched to a distant planet. However the Morkth catch up with them on the new planet. Betrayals and fights end in a standoff. Both races are now on the planet and unable to leave.
300 years later, the new human society resembles Earth in the 16th century.
A thief ,a warrior, a princess and a member from the original human crew set out to find the 'magic' stones that will provide the struggling colony with a way to beat the aliens.

I enjoyed 'The Forlorn' for its well-drawn, sympathetic characters - who can resist a spoiled princess and an orphan pickpocket who lives under the floor of a library? The aliens are totally evil and get their just desserts (some of them end up as dessert, in a really original ending). The plot is very fast-paced - definitely not to be read in bed, unless you plan to read through the night.

If you like a fast paced book with interesting characters that grow, yummy sounding food and not figuring out who the bad guy is until the end, then try this.

Sample chapters can be found at Baen's website.

Find the sections of the key or humanity on this colony planet will be wiped out by the alien space-traveling Morkth. Interesting characters are forced to co-operate in an impossible task.

I haven't seen any other books by this author, so maybe this is his first novel. If so, he's certainly off to a good start. While not exactly a classic, the story moves along quite nicely and there are a few interesting twists to keep the reader on his toes.